Friday, August 26, 2011

What are some of your favorite ingredient combinations? Naturally, there are some ingredients that just go perfectly together such as peanut butter and jelly. Another tasty pairing is chocolate and peanut butter. But for me, almost anything with caramel will have my vote. There's caramel and chocolate, caramel and apples, and even caramel and bananas. No? Not familiar with that combination? Well, I assure you it's an amazing concoction, deliciously displayed in this Caramel Banana Pie with Shortbread Pecan Crust. A buttery pecan crust holds a creamy, smooth filling made with a caramel banana sauce and custard. It's an amazing variation of a banana cream pie that's sure to impress!...
This pie was shared at a recent dessert event with friends. Probably one of the biggest pie fans I know, Jenny, prepared this pie and it was outstanding. I've had caramel and banana together before but this pie takes to a new level. She adapted a banana pudding recipe to create this pie and paired it with a crust recipe from another source. Together, it's a great combination and super easy to make. In fact, the pie only requires 15 minutes of bake time for the crust. However, the hard part is waiting 4 hours for the pie to set up in the refrigerator. This would be a great pie to prepare the night before and serve the next day...

For the crust, combine flour, pecans, ¼ cup sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Pour in melted butter; stir until combined. Press onto bottom and up sides of prepared pie plate. Bake crust 15 minutes or until golden brown. Do not overbake. Cool completely.

For the caramel, combine 1 cup sugar and water in medium heavy saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat. Do not stir. When mixture is golden, gently swirl pan to evenly distribute. Reduce heat to medium-high. Remove from heat when color is deep golden brown.

Meanwhile, purée bananas until they are the consistency of pancake batter. When the caramel has reached a deep golden brown color, slowly pour in puréed bananas, whisking constantly. Reserve ½ cup mixture in heatproof measuring cup; set aside to cool. Pour remaining banana caramel in small heatproof bowl; set aside to cool. Clean saucepan.

Heaven that sounds good!Being a sucker for anything caramel myself, I can only imagine how GOOD this pie is! In fact, I have put caramelized almonds in way too many things over the last two weeks than is good for me (and my belly. uhum.)